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Archive for the ‘innovation’ category: Page 182

Mar 6, 2017

Nanotechnology Combatting Global Warming

Posted by in categories: chemistry, complex systems, disruptive technology, energy, environmental, innovation, materials, nanotechnology, Singularity University, sustainability, transportation

Superlubricity nano-structured self-assembling coating repairs surface wear, decreases emissions and increases HP and gas mileage.

Globally about 15 percent of manmade carbon dioxide comes from vehicles. In more developed countries, cars, trucks, airplanes, ships and other vehicles account for a third of emissions related to climate change. Emissions standards are fueling the lubricant additives market with innovation.

Up to 33% of fuel energy in vehicles is used to overcome friction. Tribology is the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion inclusive of friction, wear and lubrication. This is where TriboTEX, a nanotechnology startup is changing the game of friction modification and wear resilience with a lubricant additive that forms a nano-structured coating on metal alloys.

This nano-structured coating increases operating efficiency and component longevity. It is comprised of synthetic magnesium silicon hydroxide nanoparticles that self-assemble as an ultralow friction layer, 1/10 of the original friction resistance. The coating is self-repairing during operation, environmentally inert and extracts carbon from the oil. The carbon diamond-like nano-particle lowers the friction budget of the motor, improving fuel economy and emissions in parallel while increasing the power and longevity of the motor.

TriboTEX has a Kickstarter campaign that has just surpassed $100,000 in funding. The early bird round has just closed that offered the product at one half the cost of its retail. The final round offers the lubricant system self-forming coating at 75 percent and is ending shortly. The founder Dr. Pavlo Rudenko, Ph.D. is a graduate of Singularity University GSP11 program.

Feb 27, 2017

Scientists Make Breakthrough in Antimatter Research

Posted by in categories: innovation, particle physics

CERN researchers make a major step in understanding antimatter by trapping antihydrogen atoms and controlling them with lasers.

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Feb 25, 2017

This invention by a British student could save millions of lives across the world

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, innovation

A 22-year-old British student has invented a mobile fridge that could save millions of lives across the world.

Will Broadway’s “Isobar” has been designed to keep vaccines at the ideal temperature while in transit in developing countries.

And Will doesn’t plan to make money from his creation.

Continue reading “This invention by a British student could save millions of lives across the world” »

Feb 25, 2017

MIT’s Annual Technology Review Reveals 10 Breakthrough Technologies For 2017

Posted by in categories: futurism, innovation

List from MIT Technology Review Explores the Most Remarkable Innovations of 2017, breakthroughs that may, or may not, change our future in dramatic ways.

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Feb 23, 2017

Job-Killing Computerization Sets Its Sights on the University Researcher

Posted by in categories: innovation, robotics/AI

Is there nothing sacred for goodness sakes anymore! The robots are replacing the University Research Teams. Personally, I will be shocked if it will indeed (on a massive scale) take over all experimental innovation activities in research.


At this past weekend’s annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, scientists also heard broader warnings about the threats to American workers posed by computerized automation.

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Feb 23, 2017

Creativity linked by study to left brain and right brain connections

Posted by in categories: innovation, neuroscience

Alright my neuro research & deep-mind learning friends out their; you may wish to read this find; especially as we continue our mapping and mimicking brain functions in systems as well as look at brain enhancement technologies as this is good to know as we try to boost innovation via technologies.


The most creative individuals have more nerve connections between the right and left sides of their brains, reveal researchers in the United States who analyzed connections in 68 different brain regions.

Long believed to be key in fostering imagination and intuition, as well as artistic awareness, and visual and auditive approaches, the right hemisphere isn’t the only part of the brain with a role to play in determining creativity, according to new research from Duke University.

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Feb 22, 2017

A DARPA Perspective on Artificial Intelligence

Posted by in categories: innovation, robotics/AI

What’s the ground truth on artificial intelligence (AI)? In this video, John Launchbury, the Director of DARPA’s Information Innovation Office (I2O), attempts to demystify AI–what it can do, what it can’t do, and where it is headed. Through a discussion of the “three waves of AI” and the capabilities required for AI to reach its full potential, John provides analytical context to help understand the roles AI already has played, does play now, and could play in the future.

Download the slides at: http://www.darpa.mil/about-us/darpa-perspective-on-ai

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Feb 18, 2017

2017 (Buckminster) Fuller Challenge Prize

Posted by in categories: complex systems, energy, engineering, environmental, futurism, innovation, science, sustainability

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEWBmIrXyhw

“Launched in 2007, the Fuller Challenge has defined an emerging field of practice: the whole systems approach to understanding and intervening in complex and interrelated crises for wide-scale social and environmental impact. The entry criteria have established a new framework through which to identify and measure effective, enduring solutions to global sustainability’s most entrenched challenges. The rigorous selection process has set a unique standard, gaining renown as “Socially-Responsible Design’s Highest Award.”

The Fuller Challenge attracts bold, visionary, tangible initiatives focused on a well-defined need of critical importance. Winning solutions are regionally specific yet globally applicable and present a truly comprehensive, anticipatory, integrated approach to solving the world’s complex problems.”

Deadline is March 31, 2017

Feb 18, 2017

MIT is working on 3 BIG Blockchain Ideas

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, economics, innovation, internet, software

MIT has never stood stand still in the presence of change and opportunity. Their Media Lab Currency Initiative is at the forefront of Blockchain and Bitcoin research. With the fracture of the founding core team, MIT stands to become the universal hub for research and development.

The initiative now has a team of 22 people and at least
seven ongoing research projects, and it nurtures three startups that use cryptocurrencies and the underlying technology in a variety of ways. Blockchain research now sits alongside transparent robots that eat real-world fish, solar nebula research, and other imaginative, futuristic projects in progress at the university.

The initiative has already funded the work of bitcoin protocol developers and has supported research, going far beyond bitcoin—even partnering with Ripple Labs and developing enterprise data projects.

Now, the MIT Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative is working on 3 big Blockchain ideas:

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Feb 12, 2017

Distributed Objective Consensus: Beyond POW & POS

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, computing, cryptocurrencies, economics, innovation, privacy, software

At the heart of Bitcoin or any Blockchain ledger is a distributed consensus mechanism. It’s a lot like voting. A large and diverse deliberative community validates each, individual user transaction, ownership stake or vote.

But a distributed consensus mechanism is only effective and faithful if the community is impartial. To be impartial, voters must be fairly separated. That is, there must be no collusion enabled by concentration or hidden collaboration. They must be separated from the buyer and seller; they must be separated from the big stakeholders; and they must be separated from each other. Without believable and measurable separation, all sorts of problems ensue. One problem that has made news in the Bitcoin word is the geographical concentration of miners and mining pools.

A distributed or decentralized transaction validation is typically achieved based on Proof-of-Work (POW) or Proof-of-Stake (POS). [explain]. But in practice, these methodologies exhibit subtle problems…

The problem is that Proof-of-Work can waste an enormous amount of energy and both techniques result in a concentration of power (either by geography or by special interest) — rather than a fair, distributed consensus.

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